July 28, 1997 Vol. 1 - No. 9 ============================== THE ORBITAL REPORT ON-LINE ============================== Space Executive's Weekly News Digest This issue of Takyon International's latest on-line newsletter was published in cooperation with Launchspace. (www.launchspace.com) OReOL covers space industry news, market trends, and provides the necessary background information for immediate analysis. Please feel free to contact us for any comment. === HEADLINES === * A Lockheed Martin ATLAS 2AS vehicle successfully launched the SUPERBIRD C communication satellite (24Ku) to a supersynchronous transfer orbit on July 28. The US$100-million HUGHES-built HS-601 satellite, owned by SPACE COMMUNICATIONS CORPORATION OF JAPAN (SCC), of Tokyo, Japan, is due to circularize its orbit in the coming days. It will be located at 144°E to provide communications and broad- casting services to Japan and the Asia-Pacific region, including digital broadcasting for Hughes' DIRECTV JAPAN. The footprint of previous SUPERBIRD satellites was limited to Japan. * A McDonnell Douglas DELTA 2 vehicle lofted the second US$43-million NAVSTAR positioning satellite of the BLOCK 2R series on July 22 to replenish the US AIR FORCE's GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM (GPS) constel- lation. The first of the LOCKHEED MARTIN-built GPS-2R satellite was lost in the failure of a DELTA 2 vehicle on January 17. * Shareholders of BOEING and McDONNELL DOUGLAS approved the merger of the two companies on July 25. The transaction received clearance from the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on July 1 and from the European Commission on July 23. The new company, still to be known as BOEING will enter operations on August 4. === BUSINESS === * CD RADIO INC., of Washington, DC, has signed a contract with ARIANESPACE, of Evry, France, for the launch of two digital audio radio services (DARS) satellites on ARIANE 5 vehicles in 1999. The 2,500-kg satellites, built by SPACE SYSTEMS/LORAL, of Palo Alto, California, will each broadcast 50 radio channels. * PT MULTIMEDIA ASIA, of Jakarta, Indonesia, a joint venture of PT PASIFIK SATELIT NUSANTARA (PSN) and PT INDOSAT, has awarded a contract worth US$105 million to an industrial team led by ALCATEL, of Paris, France, to build the ground segment for the MULTIMEDIA ASIA (M2A) interactive multimedia satellite system. The first M2A satellite, built by SPACE SYSTEMS/LORAL and ALCATEL, is due for launch in early 1999. ALCATEL's team includes TITAN INFORMATION SYSTEMS and THOMSON MULTIMEDIA. * SPACEHAB INC., of Arlington, Virginia, has negotiated new credit agreements worth US$25 million to develop and build new systems for future SPACE SHUTTLE missions and support of operations onboard the INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION. * TELESAT CANADA, of Gloucester, Ontario, was selected by ARABSAT, of Riyad, Saudi Arabia, to provide engineering consulting services. TELESAT will monitor the construction of the ARABSAT 3A direct broad- casting satellite (formerly ARABSAT BSS-1) by AEROSPATIALE SATELLITES, in Cannes, France, and of its payload by ALCATEL ESPACE, in Toulouse, France. ARABSAT 3A is due for launch, possibly on an Ariane vehicle, in late 1998. ********************************************************************* * As part of the New Space Journal, two interactive columns are now * * being published. "Minimum Cost Design" by Arthur Schnitt focuses * * on the MCD criteria and its application to space launch vehicles. * * "Reality Check" by Rick Fleeter takes a critical look at current * * space industry issues and concepts from the perspective of a * * seasoned veteran. You can view these columns on the web: * * * * www.newspace.com/schnitt -or- www.newspace.com/fleeter * ********************************************************************* === MARKETS === * The government of INDIA has decided to make transponder capacity on the INSAT national satellite communication network commercially available. Four INSAT 2 satellites are currently operational over the Indian ocean with a total capacity of 72 C-band, 8 S-band and 6 Ku- band transponders. The cabinet has also allowed ground operations from Indian soil for both Indian and foreign satellites but with preferential registration for Indian networks. * Contact was lost with one of the five IRIDIUM satellites (SV21) launched by a McDONNELL DOUGLAS DELTA 2 vehicle on July 9. According to IRIDIUM LLC, of Washington, DC, this loss will not affect the initial operation capability of the full 66-satellite constellation still planned for September 1998. === TECHNOLOGIES === * The French-Russian PEGASE mission to space station MIR, initially planned for early August, was postponed to February 1998. The Russian crew intended to fly with French cosmonaut Leopold Eyharts will fly alone to the station onboard the SOYUZ TM26 spacecraft on August 5 and perform a series of spacewalks. An intra vehicular activity is planned on August 20, to restore the electrical power supply in the damaged MIR complex. An extra vehicular activity is scheduled for September 3 to evaluate the possibility to repair the depressurized Spektr module. The current MIR crew is still maintaining the station. The two Russian cosmonauts currently onboard the station will return to Earth on August 14 whilst US astronaut Michael Foale will wait for space shuttle Atlantis to dock in September. * AEROSPATIALE SATELLITES, of Cannes, France, has delivered the engineering model of the MERIS (Medium Resolution Imaging Spectro- meter) hyperspectral camera to MATRA MARCONI SPACE-UK, in Bristol, Great-Britain, for integration on an engineering model of ESA's 10-t ENVISAT polar platform. MERIS will monitor the ocean surface's color in 15 visible and IR spectral bands. ENVISAT will be launched by an Ariane 5 in late 1999. ******************************************************************** * The latest issue of THE ORBITAL LAUNCHER REPORT (Vol. 3 - No. 9) * * was published on July 18. * * It includes an overview of current and proposed small launchers, * * a comparative review of Arianespace's and ILS's backlogs, * * latest news about expendable/reusable launchers, and much more ! * * * * For subscription information, contact us: orbirep@worldnet.fr * ******************************************************************** === PREVIEW === * August 1 An Orbital Sciences PEGASUS XL air-launched vehicle will loft the ORBVIEW 2 (formerly SEASTAR) ocean color obser- vation satellite from Vandenberg AFB, California. * August 4 The merger of BOEING and McDONNELL DOUGLAS is due to be completed. * August 5 Launch of the SOYUZ TM26 spacecraft with a two-man crew to Mir on a SOYUZ U vehicle from Baykonur, Kazakhstan. * August 7 Lockheed Martin's LMLV-1 small launch vehicle is expected to return to flight, lofting the TRW-built LEWIS experimental remote sensing satellite for NASA from Vandenberg AFB, California. * August 7 Space Shuttle DISCOVERY is set for lift-off from Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Florida, for the 11-day STS-85 mis- sion to release and retrieve the US/German CRISTA-SPAS 2 platform to study the atmosphere. * August 8 An ARIANE 44P vehicle is scheduled to launch the twice- delayed Space Systems/Loral-built PAS-6 communications satellite from the Guiana Space Center (CSG), in Kourou, French Guiana. ******************************************************************** * THE ORBITAL REPORT NEWS AGENCY * * Takyon International's Internet News Service * * provides launch logs and launch schedules, * * as well as back issues of THE ORBITAL REPORT ON-LINE. * * * * URL: www.orbireport.com * ******************************************************************** The Orbital Report On-Line is published 3 to 4 times per month by Takyon International (RCS Paris B 401 465 398) 34, boulevard Exelmans, 75016 Paris, France Phone: +33 (0) 607 995 056 - Fax: +33 (0) 467 607 155 E-mail: orbirep@worldnet.net URL: www.orbireport.com Chief Editor: Stefan Barensky Technical Contributor: Samuel Szdat © Takyon International - July 1997 Takyon International also publishes The Orbital Launcher Report, a monthly space transportation newsletter. ------------------- End of issue Vol.1, No.9 ----------------------
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